Senior Voice -

BAs many of you know, Hospice of Anchorage has been around since 1980 and is a nonprofit, 501(c) (3) organization and a partner agency to United Way of Anchorage. We are a community agency comprised of an interdisciplinary team – volunteers, nurses, social worker, volunteer coordinator and a clinical coordinator. We provide assistance with transition from life through death and to cope with loss and grief. This may be a one-time visit, periodic contact or may grow into an ongoing relationship lasting weeks, months or years. All services are provided free of cost. Please give us a call if you or anyone you know might be in need of our in-home services.

Hospice of Anchorage also provides free educational presentations open to the community on a wide variety of topics surrounding the areas of grief, disability and aging. Coming up this month we have care coordinator Denise Shelton giving a talk called “Care Coordination and Community Supports.” Denise has been a care coordinator in Anchorage for 18 years and is a great resource for questions you might have about services available and how to access them. This presentation will be held at Hospice of Anchorage, 2612 E. Northern Lights Blvd., on Wednesday, October 10 at 3 p.m.

We are also launching several groups this fall at Hospice of Anchorage. A Caregiver Support Group will meet on Tuesdays from 3 to 4:30 p.m. here at Hospice of Anchorage, running Oct. 9 through Nov. 20. If you are providing care to someone with a life-limiting illness and need some additional support and community, please join us. This is an open group, so feel free to come whichever weeks you are available.

We also have an Adult Grief Group that is running for 7 weeks starting Oct. 4, for adults who have experienced a death loss. This is a closed group with limited spots, so call us soon for information and to sign up. Additionally, we have a continuously running group for those that have lost a child through miscarriage or still-birth, called Fingerprints On Our Hearts.

Lastly, mark your calendars for our annual Navigating the Holidays Workshop on Nov. 14 as well as the Remembrance Tree that will run from November 23 through December 24 this year. We appreciate that we can count on this community to come out and volunteer to be a part of the Remembrance Tree. More information to come in next month’s issue of the Senior Voice.

Bethany Burgess is the Hospice of Anchorage clinical director.